TGIFSYNW.
And just like that, my week on lede duty comes to an end. I shall now retreat to my cosy little corner where I only have to write blurbs while my colleague, Emmanuel, worries about how to open the newsletter. Until next time, adieu!
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—Yemi
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features
Quick Fire 
with Helina Bischoff
Helina Bischoff is Deputy Managing Partner at Africa Collective, where she leads engagement across the organisation’s platforms and oversees partnership development, flagship convenings in Davos and Geneva, and core activities including network management and B2B facilitation.
She works at the intersection of business, policy, and international cooperation, convening senior leaders from the public and private sectors. Her work focuses on priority areas structured through Africa Collective’s thematic “Circles,” including healthcare, infrastructure, ventures, commodities, and the arts. She also oversees the Swiss-African Business Circle, an independent association fostering commercial exchange between Switzerland and African markets.
Before joining Africa Collective, Helina held roles at Novartis across Global Diversity & Inclusion, the Malaria Initiative, and the Africa Cluster, specialising in communications and public affairs. She holds a BA in International Relations and French from Rhodes University and an MA in African Studies from the University of Basel.
- Explain your job to a five-year-old.
I bring people together so that they can find ways to work together.
- What’s the most contrarian bet you’ve made professionally that paid off?
My role at Africa Collective can be considered contrarian by definition; we create platforms and convenings within global events that give greater visibility to African topics and perspectives, especially in spaces where they are underrepresented or absent altogether. That is not always easy, but it has paid off. Through Africa Collective and the Swiss-African Business Circle, the business association we manage, we have built trusted platforms that bring people together, create space for concrete discussions, and facilitate meaningful collaborations.
- What’s a belief about Africa-Switzerland trade that most people get wrong?
The depth of the ties between Switzerland and the African continent is often underestimated, as are the opportunities to leverage them. Switzerland is a global hub for many key sectors, including commodities, banking, tech, and life sciences. It is also home to large pools of capital and major impact investors with an interest in Africa. Several Swiss multinationals are active across the African continent, but there are also many Swiss SMEs and startups operating in African markets. On the flip side, African companies and organisations are looking to establish and strengthen ties with Swiss counterparts as technical or knowledge partners and, in some cases, to set up entities or subsidiaries in Switzerland.
- What’s something you believed strongly about African tech five years ago that you’ve since changed your mind about?
Five years ago, I would have thought about African tech solutions mainly in their own right. Since then, I have also come to appreciate the role of African tech as an enabler of lower-tech businesses that are critical to the global economy. African tech solutions are not only being developed for local markets, but for the world, too.
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companies
Prosus’ forced Delivery Hero exit turned into a $2.4 billion payday
A forced sell-down, a decisive stake in one of Germany’s most important food delivery companies, and an impeccably timed takeover bid that is set to bring a huge payday, the folks at Prosus, the investment firm of South Africa’s Naspers, were grinning from ear to ear yesterday.
On Thursday, Uber, the US-based ride-hailing giant, offered to buy Germany’s Delivery Hero (DH) at €41.50 ($47.48) per share, valuing the company at $14.8 billion.
State of play: Uber has been eyeing Delivery Hero for months. In May, while competing with fellow US delivery company DoorDash, it explored a €10 billion ($11.6 billion) bid. Today, it is paying more than 25% extra for the same company.
Delivery Hero shareholders look set to accept the offer. Prosus, which has signed an unconditional agreement to sell its remaining 16.83% stake once the deal closes, will receive €2.1 billion ($2.4 billion).
Explain like I’m new here: Prosus first invested €387 million ($434 million) for a 10% stake in Delivery Hero in 2017. Over the next eight years, it spent over $4 billion through initial public offering (IPO) participation, acquisitions, private placements, and open-market purchases, eventually building a 29.95% stake. By 2025, Delivery Hero remained one of its biggest investments. Together with iFood and Swiggy, Prosus said its food delivery businesses served nearly half the world’s population and generated $1.3 billion in revenue.
Then regulators forced its hand. After announcing its acquisition of Just Eat Takeaway.com, a Dutch food delivery company, Prosus was ordered by the European Union to reduce its Delivery Hero stake over competition concerns. It sold 4.5% to Uber in April and another 5% to Aspex Management, an investment firm, in May for €605 million ($713 million).
Prosus wasn’t trying to exit Delivery Hero because it had lost faith in the business. It was being forced to sell because of regulators, while trying to maximise the return on nearly a decade of backing one of Europe’s largest food delivery companies. Prosus even asked the European Commission to pause the sell-down, believing that takeover interest from Uber and DoorDash could drive a much higher valuation.
But the jury is still out on whether it made a fair value gain on Delivery Hero, but one thing is certain: upon the deal’s closure, Prosus will lose its foothold on the European food delivery market, unless it completes the Just Eat Takeaway purchase later.
Why Uber wanted Delivery Hero: Europe is one of the few major food delivery markets where Uber Eats is not dominant. Buying Delivery Hero gives Uber instant scale across 99 countries, strengthens its position against DoorDash, and creates the world’s largest food delivery business outside China, with $236 billion in annual order value.
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Banking
Stanbic Bank Kenya appoints ex-Safaricom executive as CEO
For years, banks hired bankers to run banks. But when mobile money starts eating your lunch, perhaps it makes sense to hire the people who’ve been doing the eating.
What’s happened? Stanbic Bank Kenya has appointed former Safaricom executive Michael Mutiga as its chief executive officer. Mutiga, who most recently served as Safaricom’s Chief Business Development and Strategy Officer, will take over on August 1, subject to regulatory approval.
Explain like I’m new here: This isn’t just another chief executive appointment. Mutiga spent years helping shape strategy at Safaricom, the company behind M-PESA, after an earlier banking career. Today, M-PESA offers payments, lending, savings, insurance, and investment products, making it one of the primary ways millions of Kenyans borrow, save, invest, and move money. That makes experience at a telecom highly relevant to running a bank.
It’s becoming a pattern: The appointment comes just days after Nigerian fintech unicorn Moniepoint hired former Branch Kenya chief executive Rose Muturi to lead its Kenyan operations following its acquisition of Sumac Microfinance Bank. Across the market, banks are investing heavily in digital banking while fintechs are acquiring banking licences to broaden the services they offer. Executives are moving between banks, telecoms, and fintechs because those sectors are now competing for the same customers.
Why does this matter? Customers expect instant payments, digital credit, savings, and investments from the same app they already use daily. Banks are therefore competing not only with one another, but also with platforms like M-PESA that have become a major financial touchpoint for millions of Kenyans.
Zoom out: Mobile money platforms have expanded beyond payments into lending, savings, and investments. Fintechs are acquiring banking licences, and banks are recruiting leaders with experience across all three worlds. Telecoms are becoming banks, fintechs are becoming banks, and banks are borrowing talent from both.
A PwC Kenya CEO Survey found that 62% of Kenyan CEOs have already competed in industries where they previously had no operations, as companies push beyond traditional sector boundaries. Technology has also become one of the biggest growth priorities for Kenyan CEOs.
The next competitive advantage may no longer be who has the biggest branch network, but who best understands how customers move money today.
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insights
Funding Tracker
Cue, a South African AI startup, raised $5 million in a funding round co-led by Knife Capital and FAM Investments. (Jul 16)
That’s all for this week. Before you go, join the waitlist to get early access to our upcoming SOTIA H1 2026 report.
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Founders. Investors. Policymakers. Enterprise leaders. Moonshot 2026 brings together the people shaping Africa’s technology ecosystem across AI, commerce, climate, enterprise, and culture. Spotlight your brand today.
CRYPTO TRACKER
The World Wide Web3
Source:
|
Coin Name |
Current Value |
Day |
Month |
|---|---|---|---|
 Bitcoin |
$63,103 |
– 2.71% |
– 4.07% |
| Ether |
$1,834 |
– 4.53% |
+ 2.38% |
| XRP |
$1.08 |
– 2.27% |
– 10.91% |
| Solana |
$74.69 |
– 3.20% |
+ 1.45% |
* Data as of 06.37 AM WAT, July 16, 2026.
JOB OPENINGS
- Norfund — Regional Director for West Africa — Accra, Ghana
- Orbit Ventures — Programme Manager — Lagos, Nigeria
- Lemonade Payments —Growth Executive (East Africa) — Remote (Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda)
- Lemonade Payments — Business Development Representative — Remote (Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Cameroon, Ghana, and Nigeria)
- Limitless Labs — Senior Software Engineer, Senior Full-stack Engineer (Product Builder), Football Social Media Manager, Content Specialist (Prediction Markets) — Remote (anywhere)
Looking for more opportunities? There are additional openings on TechCabal’s job board. We’ve also cleared out outdated listings to keep opportunities fresh for job seekers. If you’re hiring and would like to feature an open role, please submit it via this form.
Written by: Opeyemi Kareem and Zia Yusuf
Edited by: Emmanuel Nwosu & Ganiu Oloruntade
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